Spoof Wars Episode XII: The Dubious Maneuver
Spoof Wars Episode XII: The Dubious Maneuver is a 2003 parody sci-fi/fantasy/comedy film written and directed by Sean Stewart and Matt Gilbert. It was the first film to be released in the Spoof Wars saga, and the first in terms of internal chronology. Among fans, the title is commonly known simply as "Spoof Wars." The film begins as two Jebi, Guy-Gone Weird and Only-One Cannotbe, begin aimlessly searching for missing congressman Lon Jennon at the park planet Daftooine. When the two discover the presence of the Jebi's ancient nemesis, the Spiff Order, the Jebi flee to inform the Jebi Council. Along the way, they enlist the help of smuggler Shawn Duet, his co-pilot Mobacca and Captain Typhon. However, while en route to Croissant, they are redirected into a trap on the planet Taboo, set by the Spiff Lord Dharth Bolshevik. The film primarly parodies The Phantom Menace and'' Attack of the Clones'', as well as several other popular films and media. Pre-Production began on Spoof Wars in summer of 2002 . Produced with a budget of next to nothing, and released on December 2003, the film was generally well-recieved. It was re-released again as a Special Edition in September 2004, with significant changes and additions. A second re-release, the Remastered Edition, is currently in production. The saga continued in 2007, with the first short film in the Spoof Wars: Tales of the Jebi series. Opening crawl EPISODE XII THE DUBIOUS MANEUVER Lon Jennon, the congressman from the small mining colony of Taboo, has been mysteriously kidnapped. The kidnapping has caused turmoil in the Congress of the Democracy. Supreme Pitza Decorum has advised the Jebi Council to send the two most expendable Jebi Knights, the peacekeepers and over-all weirdos of the galaxy, Guy-Gone Weird and Only-One Cannotbe, on a futile mission to rescue Lon. Our heroes find themselves in a Democracy Cruiser, being piloted by the not-so-famous Captain Typhon, approaching the park planet of Daftooine, where the believe, without any logical reasoning whatsoever, Lon is being held.... Synopsis UNDER CONSTRUCTION In the waning days of the Galactic Democracy, a notable congressman, Lon Jennon of Taboo, has been mysteriously kidnapped. Supreme Pitza Initius Decorum, leader of the Galactic Congress, has secretly sent two Expendable Jebi Knights, Guy-Gone Weird and Only-One Cannotbe, to search for the missing congressman. Aboard a Democracy cruiser captained by Typhon, the Jebi are contacted by Jebi Grand Master Coda. He informs them both that they are authorzied to use any means necessary to return Lon. Confused by their master's backwards-speech, Guy-Gone ends his transmission, and accidentally crashes the ship on the nearby planet Daftooine. At that same moment on Daftooine, Dharth Tyrannical-Fascist has just arrived to meet with his fellow Spiff to celebrate the order's 13th Annual Spiff Company Sparring Picnic. He meets with his master, Dharth Bolshevik, and his apprentice, Dharth Bob. He tells his master that Lord Bob's latest round of training is complete and he is no longer a savage, vicious, bloodthirsty killer. Meanwhile, in space above the planet, a smuggler named Shawn Duet and his co-pilot, Mobacca, aboard their ship, the Eon Vulture, find themselves under attack by the bounty hunter Disco Fett aboard the Iron Serf III. Because the Eon Vulture is cloaked (except for its engine glow), they are able to mostly evade Disco Fett's attacks and do serious damage to his ship. In a last ditch effort, however, Fett launches everything he has at the ship, which impacts and causes the Vulture to go spiraling out of control and crash on the surface of Daftooine. Recovering from their own crash, Guy-Gone and Only-One try to get a look at their surroundings. They find the Spiff Lords meeting and, realizing that their ancient enemy has returned, they decide they must get off the planet and contact the Jebi Council. Dharth Bolshevik senses their presence - knowing that he is not ready for the galaxy to know that the Spiff still exist - he sends his guards and apprentices to find them. During the escape, Guy-Gone and Only-One are separated. Nearby, Shawn Duet begins his search for the Democracy cruiser crash he spotted while he went down, hoping to find parts necessary to fix his own ship. He runs into the dying Typhon, who gives him the crucial part he needs to fix his ship before he dies. Spotted by guards, Duet runs back into his ship. Outside, Guy-Gone manages to fend off the guards and runs off until he is knocked back by...nothing. Duet pops his head out of his ship to see the Jebi that had run into his ship. Guy-Gone convinces Duet to help him and his apprentice escape. In another area of the park planet, Only-One finishes facing off against Spiff Guards, only to hear the hiss of a laserfoil. In a natural hall of trees, Only-One duels Tyrannical-Fascist. Tyrannical-Fascist eventually leads his opponent out into the open, hoping to capture him or surround him with troops, when suddenly the cloaked ship pulls up, the door opens, and Guy-Gone pushes Tyrannical-Fascist to theground violently. The two Jebi narrowly escape. Bolshevik tells Bob to send fighters after the Eon Vulture, and is then met by Disco Fett, who proposes a partnership. In space, the Eon Vulture is no match for the Spiff Fighters. Just when hope seemed lost, a small fleet jumps out of hyperbolaspace and destroys all but two of the attackers, which jump away to inform Dharth Bolshevik. The fleet is lead by the Rusty Eagle, captained by Sprint Render and Lucebacca. Sprint asks Duet when he will get reimbursed for a loan he gave him, but he jumps away before he answers. The fleet jumps away too. Little does any ofthem know that Dharth Tyrannical-Fascist's Spiff Interloper is following the Eon Vulture. He is contacted by Bolshevik who command him to meet him on Croissant to make further plans. However, he is interrupted by another call. Tyrannical-Fascist communicates with his true master, Dharth Very Insidious, informing him that Bolshevik has no knowledge of his duplicity. Dharth Very Insidious was a fellow Spiff when Bolshevik was an apprentice, but became enraged when Bolshevik was chosen as leader over him - he wanted the Spiff to strike, while Bolshevik felt the time was not yet right. Since that time, Very Insidious had infiltrated the Democracy and slowly turned Tyrannical-Fascist and Bob to his side. Very Insidious' alter-ego Janitor Pulpyjuice had been called in to stand-in for Lon Jennon as representative of Taboo in Congress. There he proposed that Decorum was no longer fit to lead the Democracy. Futhorc Haacko of Nimrodia agreed and proposed a Vote of "You Suck". Credits Cast *Guy-Gone Weird .... Matt Gilbert *Only-One Cannotbe .... Sean Stewart *Shawn Duet .... Jonathan Consiglio *Dharth Bolshevik .... James Childers *Dharth Tyrannical-Fascist .... Jonathan Consiglio *Dharth Bob .... Ryan Murphy *Typhon .... Tyler Stacey *Disco Fett .... Aaron Loucks *Sprint Render .... Wes Stacey *Futhorc Haacko .... Prajit Limsirichai *Coda .... Joseph Consiglio * Supreme Pitza Initius Decorum .... Sean Stewart * Dauntless Pulpyjuice/Dharth Very Insidious .... Matt Gilbert *Mobacca .... Mo "Momo Khan" the Cat *Lucebacca .... Lucy *Random Guy .... Greg Gilbert * Spiff Guards .... Jonathan Consiglio, Joseph Consiglio, Tyler Stacey Crew *Written by Sean Stewart & Matt Gilbert *Directed & Produced by Sean Stewart *Edited by Sean Stewart & Matt Gilbert *Casting by Jonathan Consiglio *Sound Design by Matt Gilbert *Music Mixed by Matt Gilbert *VFX Supervisor: Sean Stewart *Animation Director: Sean Stewart *Production Supervisor: Matt Gilbert *3D Model Artist: Prajit Limsirichai *CG Shot Producer: Sean Stewart *Costumers: Sean Stewart, Janice Stewart, Aaron Loucks, Matt Gilbert *Props Provided by Chip Cohlmia, Linda Gilbert *Music by John Williams, Jerry Goldsmith, Dennis McCarthy, Don Davis and Juno Reactor, Howard Shore, Klaus Badelt, Alan Silvestri, MECO, Kool and the Gang, Danny Elfman, Cliff Eidelman *Keygrip: Tom Stewart *Best Boy: James Childers *Assistant Directors: Matt Gilbert, Jonathan Consiglio, James Childers *Swordmaster/Stunt Coordinator: Jonathan Consiglio *Conceptual/Storyboard Artists: Matt Gilbert, Sean Stewart *Location Scouts/Managers: Matt Gilbert, Jonathan Consiglio, Greg Gilbert *Chief Make-up Artists: Ryan Murphy, Jonathan Consiglio *Rotoscope/Paint Artists: Matt Gilbert, Sean Stewart, Ryan Murphy *Directors of Photography: Sean Stewart, Matt Gilbert, Jonathan Consiglio *Production Designers: Sean Stewart, Matt Gilbert, Jonathan Consiglio *Costume Designers: Sean Stewart & Matt Gilbert *Design Directors: Sean Stewart, Matt Gilbert, Jonathan Consiglio *Cameras: Sean Stewart, Matt Gilbert, Jonathan Consiglio, Tom Stewart, Wes Stacey, Prajit Limsirichai, Ryan Murphy, Joseph Consiglio, James Childers *Special thanks to: George Lucas, TheForce.net FanFilms, Central Christian Church, Wichita Independent, Newman University, Cypress Park, First United Methodist Wichita, Chris Ashbrook, Debra Cole Appearances Characters *Guy-Gone Weird *Only-One Cannotbe *Shawn Duet *Mobacca *Disco Fett * Captain Typhon * Count Dubious/Dharth Bolshevik *Dharth Tyrannical-Fascist *Dharth Bob *Initius Decorum * Dharth Very Insidious/Dauntless Pulpyjuice *Sprint Render *Lucebacca *Futhorc Haacko *Spiff Guard *Coda *Boggle the Morer *Guy-Gone Clone Trooper *Guy-Gone Clone Jebi *Guy-Gone Clone Commander *Lokai (Mentioned only) *Johnson (Mentioned only) *Steele (Mentioned only) *Dharth Plaquetus (Mentioned only) *Lon Jennon (Mentioned only) *Kruge (Mentioned only) Locations *Daftooine **Hall of Trees *Croissant **Jebi Temple **Janitor's Closet **Landing Platform 47 **Congress Chamber *Taboo **Atrium Complex Ships *Eon Vulture *Democracy Cruiser *Rusty Eagle *Spiff Fighter *Spiff Interloper *Iron Serf III *Unnamed Heavy Transport *Unnamed Light Transport *Unnamed Pirate Spiff Fighters Events *Spiff Company Sparring Picnic **Duel in the Hall of Trees **Skirmish over Daftooine *Impeachment of Decorum *Incident at Taboo **Spiff Coup d'etat **Apocalyptic Battle Organizations and titles *Bounty hunter *Galactic Democracy **Galactic Congress ***Congressman ***Speaker of the Congress **Supreme Pitza **Janitor **Spacefleet ***Admiral ***Captain ***General ***Officer *Jebi Order **Grand Master **Jebi Knight ***Expendable Jebi **Jebi Master **Jebi Apprentice **Jebi Clone *Order of the Spiff Lords **Dark Lord of the Spiff ***Dharth **Spiff Guard *Smuggler Behind the Scenes Earliest Concept Unlike the other films, the name came first, and dates back as early as 2002, having come from a reading of a chess book. Matt and Sean had watched some Star Wars fanfilms and talked about making a short film where two "Redeye Knights" land on a planet and fight two Sith-like enemies then-named Darth Bore and Darth Gore. The film would have been nothing more than a simple fight in a parking lot or in a gymnasium. It wasn't until the summer of 2002 during a Super Smash Bros. Melee tournament that the idea was presented to Jonathan and expanded much closer to what it eventually became. Pre-Production Early Drafts The earliest draft of Spoof Wars was a simple fight with very little narrative. The story evolved and grew to the point that the film was too long to be reasonable. Before nearly a third was cut to form the final film, the flow went something like this: Guy-Gone and Only-One land on Daftooine searching for Lon Jennon. There, they see the Spiff and are chased by them. The two split up and one steals a Spiff speederbike, leading to a chase scene. Guy-Gone would then encounter Duet as before, and escape, with the Spiff hot on their trail. The Eon Vulutre would have landed on Croissant, and been suddenly destroyed by the stove/bathroom problem. The characters would rent a room on Croissant, with Tyrannical-Fascist staying next door. He would attempt to kill them with a bomb, but the Jebi ignorantly throw it out. Meeting with the Jebi Council to report, Count Dubious would assign them a mission to Taboo to meet with Jo Jar G'Binx (the Jar Jar character). As they left, Dubious would be found out to be Bolshevik by Coda and engage in a duel, all without the notice of the other Jebi. Meeting up with Duet (who had just raided a doorstop factory) outside of a second Democracy transport, Tyrannical-Fascist would have confronted them and dueled Only-One on the landing platform, with the fight playing out much like it does in the final version. Tyrannical-Fascist would have returned to his rented room to report to both of his masters (these scenes were rewritten as scenes in his ship in the final version). Aboard the second transport, Duet would have beated Guy-Gone up for losing his doorstops by leaving them atop the ship. We would have also seen Typhon was a stowaway on this ship. Contacted by "Jo Jar" (in actuality, Bolshevik holding up a poorly drawn picture of Jo Jar, doing a bad imitation) they would have gotten stuck in traffic, then illegally swerved into oncoming traffic to get to Taboo. Landing there, Guy-Gone would freak out by a sound in the nearby area, bumping into Duet, who would accidentally shoot and destroy their ship. Finding "Jo Jar", they see that he is just a cardboard cut out with a tape recorded that falls down, so they cautiously proceed further, suspecting a trap. The rest plays out as before, though Bolshevik would have quickly disabled Tyrannical-Fascist, rather than their longer duel, and there was more dialogue from Only-One and Bolshevik, where Only-One realizes that Bolshevik is Dubious. Many of these abandoned ideas have been adapted into the short films and sequels. Unused Footage Because filming began before the script was cut down, some of the earliest footage reflected the earlier version of the story, and thus was unusable later (with the exception of the Congress scene). These scenes included: Guy-Gone and Only-One in their rented room on Croissant, Dharth Tyrannical-Fascist and his rented room scenes, early versions of the Eon Vulture kitchen and living area scenes (combined into the kitchen scene in the final version), early versions of the Democracy Cruiser 1 and Democracy Cruiser 2 scenes, and an early version of part of the "Apocalyptic Battle" with Dharth Bob at a different location, as well as various other bluescreen shots. There are some noticable differences in the looks of certain characters. Guy-Gone's hair is longer. Only-One's hair is shorter, he wears a different robe (later given to Bolshevik), wears a padawan braid (to be traded with Guy-Gone), and wears a glove on one hand. Duet's hair is shorter, and he has a different gun (later given to Disco Fett). Dharth Bob's hair is a little longer, he has less facial hair, and his makeup is noticably different. Dharth Bolshevik and Dharth Very Insidious wore a much flimsier robe. Many of these differences are reflected in the first teaser poster. Interestingly, Typhon was originally played by Tyler Stacey in these scenes, which is why he was later re-added after the Special Edition. At one point, there was a project to combine this unusued footage with new footage to create a short film. Special Edition *''Main article: List of changes in the Special Edition '' In 2004 it was decided that several changes and additions would be made to The Dubious Maneuver. Among other things, the audio (particularly lines of dialogue) were improved, Tyler was replaced as Typhon and a new subplot was added following Duet, Mobacca and Disco Fett (who had been an abandoned idea in the original draft). Remastered Edition *''Main article: List of changes in the Remastered Edition '' In 2009, while working on the later short films, the crew decided it was time to revisit The Dubious Maneuver one final time. The main goal this time was to create the definitive version with the best audio and video quality available, while also taking the opportunity to fix mistakes, make changes (both to the story and cosmetically), and bring the film closer to what was originally intended. Deleted scenes The following deleted scenes have been previously included on DVD release(s): *'Guy-Gone & Only-One's Rented Room on Croissant'—In an earlier version of the film, Guy-Gone and Only-One wait to meet with the Jebi Council on Croissant in a Rented Room. There they receive a package sent by Count Dubious, which is a bomb that Guy-Gone throws out the door unknowingly. *'Tyrannical-Fascist's Rented Room on Croissant'—Adaptation of the two Interloper scenes from an earlier version where Tyrannical-Fascist fights Only-One on Croissant just after they meet with the Council. *'Democracy Cruiser #2'—In an earlier version of the film, the Eon Vulture is destroyed on Croissant, so the heroes borrow a Democracy Cruiser to get to Taboo. Dharth Bolshevik pretends to be "Representative Jo-Jar G'Binx" to lure them into a trap. Captain Typhon, originally played by Tyler Stacey surprisingly pops up. *'"What Are You Guys Doing?"' Original Cut— An earlier version of the Apocalyptic Battle with a random person. *'Something VERY Illegal'—With traffic backed up, Duet makes a very illegal move by flying into oncoming traffic. *'Original Space Battle'—Space Battle from the original release. Though unclear, the fighters shoot each other when the Eon Vulture turns off its engine, and the sensors are calibrated wrong, misinterpreting their wreckage as huge warships. *'Original Typhon to the Rescue'—Typhon (Joseph) saves Duet from the Spiff Guards. *'Original Clones to the Rescue'—The Spiff Guards corner Duet and Typhon (Joseph), until Guy-Gone's clones save the day. Trivia *A recently rediscovered storyboard depicts a scene that was planned and later scrapped for the Special Edition. It depicts Dharth Tyrannical-Fascist meeting with Boggle the Morer in a building on Croissant. Boggle would have said "The Jebi must not find our plans for the ultimate weapon!", handing Tyrannical-Fascist a holo-projector with plans for the Doom Ball (then called Doom Globe). Boggle would have continued "If they find out what we are planning to build, we are screwed''!".'' -Tyrannical-Fascist would have responded "I will take the plans with me. They will be safe with my other master." This scene is clearly a parallel of a similar scene in Attack of the Clones where Poggle the Lesser gives the Death Star plans to Count Dooku. It would have also served as a set-up for the sequels. *Originally the credits music would have gone to a much further extreme following "And now for something completely different", with samplings of music from various random songs, movies and tv show and video game themes, including Batman, Matlock and Super Mario Bros. External Links *[http://blip.tv/file/3908238 Watch Spoof Wars Episode XII: The Dubious Maneuver - Special Edition]'' at Blip.tv'' Category:Film Episodes